The 1970s Saw The Release of The Exorcist, Carrie, The Omen and Halloween

It Also Had These Horror Movie Clunkers…

1970s audiences had the opportunity to see some of the all-time great horror classics when first released in theaters.

There were also imitators of horror. Low budget affairs plagiarizing a title or borrowing a plot. Many of them downright laughable, like Beyond The Darkness and The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave.

A trailer is akin to a writer describing his vision for a film to a studio executive. The two minute trailer is supposed to convince an audience to see a movie. Picture some producer listening to a writer’s pitch and then signing a check to get a turkey made. And the 70s saw lots of ’em. For every Alien (1979) that was made, there were a dozen horror catastrophe’s like Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977).

Based on these trailers, who in their right mind would pay money to see any of these?

Maybe I am being too harsh. After all I have never seen any of these so-called horror films. You can’t tell a book by its cover and you can’t really judge a movie by its trailer. But if you can’t make a professional trailer, how can the full length film be any good?

For contrast here is the trailer for The Exorcist, still considered by many moviegoers the most frightening film ever made.

If you are not a horror fan, stay away from films like The Exorcist. You’ll be better off watching 1970s cult classics with scary titles such as The Thing With Two Heads (1972) starring Ray Milland and Rosey Grier which isn’t frightening, but very campy.